Verizon refunds customers for misleading data plans

Verizon refunds customers for misleading data plans

Last Updated: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 | 5:35 PM ET
CBC News

Verizon Wireless, the second-largest mobile phone provider in the United States, has agreed to return $1 million US to customers for advertising "unlimited" data plans that weren't really unlimited.

New York's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, said on Wednesday that the company has agreed to refund customers whose accounts were wrongfully terminated after they surpassed download limits on their mobile devices. The limits were never disclosed.

The company, which is co-owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, also agreed to pay $150,000 in penalties and change its marketing practices on wireless internet services. Verizon had marketed plans that were unlimited, without disclosing that activities such as downloading movies and playing games were not allowed, Cuomo's office said.

Between 2004 and April of this year, Verizon cut off 13,000 customers for excessive use.

Bell Canada Inc. launched a data plan last month that offers "unlimited" internet and e-mail use for $75 a month. However, under the plan's fine print, customers are not allowed to use "excessive network capacity in Bell's reasonable opinion" that would cause its network, or its ability to provide services to others, to be "adversely affected."

Customers are also not allowed to use "multi-media streaming, voice over internet protocol or any other application which uses excessive network capacity that is not made available to you by Bell."

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/10/24/tech-verizon.html

 

I have my internet on all day and never come close to the 5 GB limit but I never stream video or download anything.